China-EU Economic and Trade Relations

Abstract

This chapter introduces the development of China-EU trade and investment relations in the past ten years, since the announcement of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; it also analyzes the driving forces behind China’s trade surplus with the EU, the situation of the bilateral trade disputes, as well as the issue of the “Market Economy Status” (MES) in the bilateral trade relations. The author concludes that great changes have taken place regarding the economic strength and international positions of the two sides, as well as the international environment in the ten years since the establishment of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The author also noted that despite the high growth rate of the trade volume between China and the EU, neither side had made adequate preparations for the sharp rise in bilateral trade and no efficient mechanism had been set up to react to such situations. In the next ten years, China should try to shift from its passive status with the bilateral trade agenda, get rid of its former approach of developing bilateral relations with focused on form instead of substance, and construct a new way of thinking concerning China-EU economic and trade relations.